Yesterday morning, a cat sat straight facing the sun with closed eyes in front of my parked car. I had been walking towards it with my office bag, and its posture — proud, elegant, poised — made me smile. I instinctively looked up at a woman having a smoke standing on her first-floor balcony, and made a face as if to say, “See how the queen suns herself!”
The lady smiled back and called out, “Nice.”
“Do you have cats too?” I asked. This lady and I had only exchanged smiles in the past. This was our first conversation.
“Cats?” she called back, bewildered. “Cats? What cats?”
“What were you talking about?” I asked, keeping my bags in the car.
“Your car,” she said, “I have a Swift Desire myself.”
“Oh, I was talking about the cat that’s sunning itself in front of my car,” I tried to clarify, before realising that a small tree had probably blocked her vision of it.
It was hardly a two-minute conversation and I drove off then, the memory of the regal cat making me smile, and the realisation of how differently two human beings can view the same scene making me thoughtful.
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I’d met a sweet young woman in Kenya this May. We hit off well and one starry night, we had a few drinks and lay floating in the gorgeous pool at our resort there, staring up at nothing. In those few moments of having our guards down, I decided to introduce her to my sister-in-law’s brother on Facebook once I got back home. Today, seven months later, they announced their engagement. How absolutely mystical life is!
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Yesterday evening, Manasvi lost her wallet and iTouch in Ambience Mall’s Fun City. She looked about for it, informed the security, but no one could find it. She then went with her friend, who lives nearby, to her house and called me up, crying inconsolably. I called up the Fun City guys, and within two minutes, they called me back to say they had it with them and we could collect it any time. Later that evening, we drove down, and sure enough, it was with the Ambience Mall’s security department, absolutely secure down to the last penny. I was mighty impressed with the mall’s service and professional efficiency. We had an enlightening chat with the manager there, learning about how their team works.
The incident reaffirmed one of my beliefs that we never really lose anything. We only gain experiences.
100 Paths 